The board chairperson of the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), Oleksandr Kamyshin, does not see the need to allow locomotives belonging to carriers based in the European Union to travel on its rail network to border stations inside Ukraine because Ukrzaliznytsia is coping with cross-border transport volumes.
Kamyshin stated this during "Infrastructure Day" at the European Business Association (EBA).
"We will agree to such conditions only if we cannot do it ourselves. For now, we are doing it ourselves calmly. There is no problem for anyone to have our locomotives deliver something somewhere. I understand that this is a phantom pain from the past, when the railway did not have enough locomotives. There are currently enough. We are doing everything to ensure that there continues to be enough. Therefore, we will not simply grant someone passage into Ukraine just to check the box," the head of Ukrzaliznytsia said.
He added that Ukrzaliznytsia is currently trying to promote its traction services abroad: "This is the business we are fighting for. On the contrary, we are taking our locomotives to neighboring countries."
He did not specify the countries. As reported in the summer, Ukrainian locomotives have begun pulling freight trains through Moldova. However, these are trains transporting Ukrainian transit goods to the port of Reni.
As reported, a few days ago, the Freightliner company’s representative in Ukraine Denys Orlov expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure could allow locomotives belonging to carriers based in the European Union to travel on European- and broad-gauge tracks to the nearest border stations inside Ukraine. According to him, this would help solve the problem of shortage of rolling stock and thus help to speed up transportation.
